GUNMAN FIRES INTO A CROWD AT JERSEY PARK

By JAMES BARRON

Published: April 20, 1987

A gunman opened fire last night in a crowded plaza just inside the main gate of the Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson, N.J., wounding a 23-year-old man and sending dozens of other people running for safety, the police and Great Adventure officials said.

As bystanders screamed and the wounded man, Anthony Huston, of Brooklyn, fell to the ground, the gunman escaped into the crowd, according to a spokesman for Great Adventure, Donna O'Sullivan. About 7 P.M., minutes after the shooting, officials began evacuating the amusement park, which was crowded with more than 21,780 people.

It was the third violent incident of the day at the nation's third busiest amusement park, which is 50 miles southwest of midtown Manhattan. The other two incidents were stabbings that had occurred several hours before the shooting and were unrelated to it, the police said.

Officials closed the amusement park at 7:06 P.M., about an hour earlier than scheduled. They began broadcasting announcements over loudspeakers throughout the park, instructing customers to get off the carousels and roller coasters and leave the 120-acre amusement park. It took more than two hours to clear the huge parking lots, officials said.

The shooting occurred at 6:53 P.M. near the Liberty Fountain, Ms. O'Sullivan said. The 20-foot fountain stands just past the ticket-vending booths and is surrounded by bustling shops and food carts. 'The Crowd Was Panicking'

Capt. William Mulligan of the Jackson Police Department said the assailant fired two or three shots from what appeared to be a revolver. The victim was standing less than 10 feet away, he said. One bullet passed through the victim's hand and struck his leg, Captain Mulligan said.

''The crowd was panicking, and he just left,'' Captain Mulligan said, referring to the gunman.

Ms. O'Sullivan said the gunman was described as a black man, about 6 feet 2 inches tall, wearing a white sweatsuit. She said officials were uncertain as to his age or weight.

The first disturbance, at about 4:30 P.M., erupted betweeen a 17-year-old boy and girlwho were standing near the Sarajevo Bobsled, a popular ride that carries passengers on a parabola-shaped course with hairpin turns and roller-coaster speeds. Captain Mulligan said the boy, Robert Rivera of the Bronx, was slashed in the neck with a pocket knife by the girl, whom he declined to identify. She was charged with aggravated assault and released in the custody of her parents, A Heated Argument The boy was treated at Freehold Hospital and returned to Great Adventure, Captain Mulligan said.

In the second stabbing, an hour later, the Jackson police charged Sean McClean of Brooklyn, 18 years old, with aggravated assault after he used a blunt instrument to stab Stephan Blakney, also 18, in the back after a heated argument, officials said.

Captain Mulligan said officials did not know what had touched off the dispute in front of a gift shop near the Free Fall, a thrill ride steps from the fountain. Mr. Blakney and Mr. Huston were both in stable condition after surgery at Freehold Hospital last night.

Great Adventure opened for the season on April 11, Ms. O'Sullivan said, but is scheduled to operate only on weekends through the end of April. It will be open three days a week in early May before going to a full-time schedule on Memorial Day, she said.

She said amusement park officials had not decided whether to strengthen security at Great Adventure this week. They were considering whether to hire additional guards and step up patrols next weekend, she said.

Great Adventure, a 13-year-old amusement park, was the scene of a fire that killed eight teen-agers on a high school class field trip in 1984 when flames swept through the Haunted Castle attraction.

The amusement park and its operating corporation were indicted on manslaughter charges by an Ocean County grand jury that charged that the defendants had ''recklessly'' caused the deaths by failing to take adequate safety measures. Officials said later that the fire could have been avoided if local officials had enforced fire safety codes.